The Ed Bott Report

Get outspoken insights and expert advice on the products and companies that define today's tech landscape, from a source who knows these technologies inside and out.

Ed Bott

Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications. He has served as editor of the U.S. edition of PC Computing and managing editor of PC World; both publications had monthly paid circulation in excess of 1 million during his tenure. He is the author of more than 25 books on Microsoft Windows and Office, including Windows 7 Inside Out (2009) and Office 2013 Inside Out (2013).

Latest Posts

You've got a new PC running Windows 10 Home. You want to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro. Here's how to get that upgrade for free. All you need is a Pro/Ultimate product key from an older version of Windows.

Microsoft's much-hyped free upgrade offer for Windows 10 ended in 2016, right? Not exactly. The GWX tool may be gone, but all the other upgrade tools still work. The end result is an apparently valid digital license, and there's no evidence that the free upgrades will end any time soon.

After a disastrous launch and a big writedown, analysts were ready to write off Microsoft's Surface division five years ago. But instead of disappearing, the Surface division has been a surprising success.

Microsoft started working on the hybrid devices that now make up the Surface family back in 2009. The group has made some missteps along the way, but today its lineup of Windows 10 devices is genuinely impressive and widely imitated. Here's how the brand has evolved.

While the rest of the world is enthusiastically adopting the all-in-one USB Type-C standard, Microsoft and Apple are stubbornly sticking with their proprietary connectors. That's why I no longer carry a Surface or an iPhone when I travel.

As Windows 10 approaches its third birthday, it's maturing steadily. A worldwide installed base of more than 700 million active users is impressive, but what will it take to convince Windows 7 users to switch? Here's my report card.

Believe it or not, some hardy souls are still running Windows 7 on PCs equipped with turn-of-the-century Pentium III CPUs. But the latest round of Windows 7 security patches won't install on those devices. Here's the background.

Beginning with Windows 10 version 1709, the Hyper-V Manager includes an option to create a new virtual machine from a single dialog box. Be sure to check these four settings before you use this one-click option.

A flurry of recent headlines report that Microsoft's latest Windows 10 feature update has been installed by half of all eligible PCs in a mere three weeks. A closer look at the data suggests this is highly unlikely.

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